[amsat-bb] SatPC32, PSTRotator and 360 Degree Rotators

[John]

Hi Robert,

 

It’s not an issue with the rotor not stopping (the ERC knows exactly where its limits are and obeys them perfectly).

 

The issue was that SatPC32 was assuming my endstop was South, and hence in the middle of almost every pass that went North of me, I had to wait for the rotor to do a full 360 swing.

 

The idea from Dave KB1PVH of setting the Yaesu rotor configuration just long enough to make that value configurable set me on the right path, and I’m pleased to say it’s now working nicely, and seems to be remembering that North is where my stop is, and using 180 degree elevation and the Southern side of the azimuth ring for Northern passes – exactly what I needed.

 

Just a shame you have to trick SatPC32 into letting you see that setting before you can poke it!

 

Thanks for all the input folks, this one’s now solved (at least for the moment – I haven’t tried closing and reopening SatPC32 yet!).

 

73,

John (M5ET)

 

From: KE6BLR Robert <ke6blr.robert at gmail.com> 
Sent: 27 July 2019 21:46
To: John <john at amber.org.uk>
Cc: AMSAT BB <amsat-bb at amsat.org>
Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] SatPC32, PSTRotator and 360 Degree Rotators

 

Perhaps you can insert an Arduino in the serial bus path to regulate your end stop. I know Amazon has RS232 to TTL adapters. Seems like a fun project.

 

73


Robert
KE6BLR

 

On Sat, Jul 27, 2019 at 9:47 AM John via AMSAT-BB <amsat-bb at amsat.org <mailto:amsat-bb at amsat.org> > wrote:

Hi All,



For various reasons, we use PSTRotator to control our rotator/elevator stack
- mostly due to the need for IP control of the ERC-M, which SatPC32 doesn't
seem to natively handle.



It all works fine, for the most part, with the exception of the fact that I
don't seem to be able to change my endstop value - normally this would be in
the "Rotor" configuration settings, but since I'm leaving SatPC32 set to
'None' and having PSTRotator in 'Tracking' mode (it follows SatPC32's
headings anyway), I can't see the option (it's not in the list) in order to
pick South for my endstop instead of North.



I can choose between 90 and 180 degree elevation (we use 180 as we only have
360 degrees of azimuth), but does anyone know how I can make SatPC32
understand the endstop being at the North instead of the South?



Many thanks in advance,



John (M5ET)

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